I stumbled upon Toastmasters while working for the U.S. Army in Chievres, Belgium, but I did not join until April 2004 when I moved to Heidelebrg, Germany. In Heidelberg, I joined the Heidelberg International Toastmasters Club, where I learned and grew into the Toastmaster I am today. We had many fine Toastmasters there and we all had a very special bond.

At Heidelberg, I was President in Term 2005-2006 and the club achieved all 10 points to become a President’s Distinguished Club. I also held the Treasurer and VP Education positions at Heidelberg.

I also co-sponsored the Mannheim International Toastmasters Club. I represented the Heidelberg club at the District 59 Humorous Speaking Contest in Wien in 2007.

I took a sabbatical from Toastmasters and later found a job with the U.S. Army in Wiesbaden in 2011. I missed Toastmasters and joined the Mighty Word Weavers Club in 2012 and renewed my membership with the Heidelberg International Toastmasters Club. Word Weavers is a very special club with a superb atmosphere. At Word Weavers, I accomplished my Advanced Communicator Silver and Gold and was nominated to be Vice President Membership, Term 2012-2013.

As Area Governor, I want set the condictions for the Area F3 clubs to reach their goals. I plan to use everything within my means to assist members to reach their aspirations. I would like to see the clubs grow in numbers as well as depth and it would not be bad if each club becomes a President’s Distinguished Club in 2013.

District 95 (D95) was re-born in Athens during Joint Spring Conference that took place in May 2018.

As of July 1, 2018 D95 consists of four countries: Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. All in all, there are 6 divisions and 30 areas.

Toastmasters is all about personal development. However, this can never be achieved alone or by a single member. For this to happen, every member needs effective evaluation and feedback, needs to learn to keep time, watch the vocabulary and work on its enrichment, be ready for impromptu speaking, etc.

All these roles are performed by fellow colleagues – club members. That is why each member needs presence and participation of other members. Toastmasters Club is “The Place” where all members meet, develop and grow.

Clubs establishment is the result of assiduous work, joint efforts and team work of members. Voluntarily, they take on club leadership roles. By taking on leadership roles, members develop skills that can be successfully applied inside and outside the club.

That is why I encourage you all in the new 2018-2019 Toastmaster Year to focus and support the further establishment and development of the Strong Clubs that are built by Strong Members and thus ensuring Strong Organisation.

Ahead of us is the special and exiting Toastmasters Year!

Happy Toastmastering!

Svetlana Breum, DTM

District 95 Director, 2018-2019

My Dear Fellow Members,

TUNE IN TO THE BLAB District 95 Toastmasters podcast for information about PATHWAYS - the new educational program from Toastmasters! CLICK ON THIS LINK ->->BLAB PODCAST

Today we’re interviewing Past Toastmasters International President, Pat Johnson live on Blab at 6 PM (Berlin Time). Pat has played instrumental role in the development of the coming new Toastmasters Educational system at Toastmasters. The transformation has been called R.E.P (Revitalized Education Program) and has been recently been renamed “Pathways Learning Experience”. It has been a number of years since the Educational system at Toastmasters was being changed this significantly, you might even say that it has never been changed this much before, so there are a lot of questions out there on what is changing and what it all means. Our session today is likely to answer many of the questions you have and you have the chance to take part in conversation with a Past Toastmasters International President as well.

To attend the session live, you’ll need to log in with Twitter (preferred method) or Facebook. Blab works best with the Chrome or Firefox web browsers. In the even that you’re not able to attend live, we’ll make the recording available afterwards. It should be a lot of fun.